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RME User Forum → FireWire & USB series → Windows media player
WMP isn't playing audio when I have ableton live open. Also tried winamp.
Need one of these to work in order to audition sounds I'm dragging into ableton.
Can't seem to find any settings that allow me to feed to the output while another program is using it... God this soundcard's been a pain in the ass.
Any links, info, directions would be appreciated.
Which interface, which driver version, which firmware version?
Using Windows XP SP3, I did both WMP and Sonar, but I am using Sonar 7 from Cakewalk. I am guessing that it must be Ableton Live or some setting in that program that is not allowing both to play at the same time. (my ears were going crazy though listening to both.)
Sorry, should have specified.
Windows 7, rme fireface UC, latest drivers, latest firmware.
Had problems before getting the fireface to work with multiple outputs and spoke to the tech reps over the phone a few times. Now this...
Tried reinstalling live.
Does the FF-UC have the "Optimize Multiclient Mixing" option like the HDSPe series does? If so, try enabling it.
I know I prefer to leave this setting disabled, and specify different outputs per DAW program (and specifically DISABLE the un-used outputs in the DAW software to allow other apps to access them).
RE:
God this soundcard's been a pain in the ass.
Had problems before getting the fireface to work with multiple outputs and spoke to the tech reps over the phone a few times. Now this...
The problem isn't the RME hardware or drivers - they are the best of the best. You'd have to pry my RME hardware and drivers from my cold dead hands!!! Extremely flexible and stable professional products hands down. You can't blame RME for Windows/MME/ASIO and/or OSX/Core Audio type issues 
I know at least a user who's using Cubase 6 and Windows Media Player at the same time with FF UC. I'm using Cubase (or Reaper), Windows Media Player at the same time with FF UFX. This is about multi-client features, and each DAW software, ASIO driver implement differently.
Can you test with Reaper, and if multi-client works with Reaper, the problem may be in Live's settings, perhaps?
The current drivers support multiple software using the same output channels. Unfortunately, everybody always says they have the "latest" even when they don't. So which driver & firmware version exactly is reported in the Fireface USB Settings app? Also they have to be the same sample rate, so your Ableton session would have to be 44.1k in order to run other media players along side.
I can use 48000 or 44100, sometimes I forget to reset it (since Windows Media Player can handle 48000-16bit).
And even if that is not it (with WMP) it still works on either since I was recording and playing back in Sonar at48000 and listening also to WMP at 44100 (or was it 48000 actually). Well, it all worked.
I think that works if you are using isolated software outputs for each app (windows will SRC via MME IIRC since the RME will generally be what clocks the system), but I believe the RME Multi-client function does require the same sample-rate to share a common SOFTWARE output (TM middle row) as Jeff mentioned.
I generally roll w/o "Multiclient Mixing" enabled in the RME driver (especially on my tracking DAWs), and discretely enable/disable the ASIO I/O on an application-by-application basis - and then Windows Sounds and any Media Players will get sent to one of the un-used software outputs - all is peachy! Then, TM can "mix" these software outputs to a common hardware output - so all of this can play through a common set of monitors...
Hey, thanks a lot for the responses.
Ableton already has a pre-listen feature like Cubase does for auditioning sounds. You should not need to use a separate programs for doing this.
I'm not interested in the pre-listen features to audition sounds. I have about 10 different folders up with different stuff I need to audition quickly, and it's not efficient locating all the folders, etc. I'm sure you know what I mean. This is the way my workflow works.
In regards to the prior comment about blaming anything about rme. That's a huge misconception of the first question I asked... I'm not blaming ANYTHING about rme. I appreciate this soundcard. It's just a little complex, coming from a CI2 and it's not too intuitive. I've read quite a bit of the manual trying to find an answer for a problem I had before. Ends up the soundcard blew fuse and just wasn't working...
I know this is my problem though. I know it's a 'user' error (what you're pointing out.)
I
My question is how to fix this. The comment was a little UN-necessary. Specially on a support forum for a product.
Where would I find " Optimize Multiclient Mixing "
Think you can direct me to any specific instructions in the manual, or maybe walk me through what needs to be done in order to enable both?
Windows media gives me an error when I try to open any audio files, so it's obviously conflicting with ableton. I'll see if 44.1 is the problem.
Trust me on when I say I have the latest. I was on the phone for 20 minutes with a tech rep from RME going over problems that spanned about a month, pertaining to drivers and such...
Anyways, appreciate the help. Thank you!
Changed the sample rate in ableton to 441 and now no audio comes out when ableton's closed. Youtube, wmp, nothing.
I didn't touch any settings in the rme UI??
Hi,
Are you sure that all the files you are auditioning in WMP are the same sample rate as your Ableton project?
Chris
Doesn't matter, WMP will automatically sample rate convert so it works. And it does on all computers that I know. There is something wrong with that machine, it seems.
It might help if you gave us some more information besides "isn't playing audio". Is there an error message? Or does WMP appear to be playing audio, i.e. will it do animations as during playback? Do you see any signal in other playback channels in the RME mixer? Have you checked the Windows default audio setting lately?
Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME
Well, that's precisely what's happening. I changed the sample rate in ableton, and now sounds in windows itself don't play. It's set to the soundcard as playback device, and nothing works now. No errors.
The error that was coming up before said something like, 'error, windows media player cannot play the audio playback."
Pretty simple. Nothing more then that.
Now I'm getting no output from anything but ableton.
I really doubt it's a sample rate conversion from ableton to WMP in regards to my first question.
Now I'm not even sure what's going on...
Well, that's precisely that's happening. I changed the sample rate in ableton, and now sounds in windows itself don't play. It's set to the soundcard as playback device, and nothing works now. No errors.
Does WMP do the animations (if you haven't activated them, do so...)? Do you see any signal in the RME mixer anywhere?
The error that was coming up before said something like, 'there was an error, windows media player cannot play the audio playback."
Were you trying to play 24 bit audio?
Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME
Doesnt give me any visualizations. It doesn't buffer, anything.
There's no signals coming from the rme mixer.
My problem when I first opened this thread, was that WMP, winamp wouldn't open any sounds, mp3's, wavs, etc. Didn't matter what bitrate.
I was able to play windows default noises, youtube, etc.
Then I changed the sample rate to 441 in ableton and everything died, except ableton.
No input into rme interface.
no input signal showing. The matrix is setup correctly. gains all enabled.
I've got it to play sound, had to reinstall the drivers. Apparently wasn't 'user error'
But it's still not playing in WMP with ableton open.
Does it have anything to do with the fact that I have ssd? Probably not?
And to clarify, I didn't reinstall updated drivers, I re-installed the already updated drivers. 
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